A Hero Beyond His Time
by I am Zolomon
Summary: Link remembers when he failed as the Hero all those years ago, leaving Princess Zelda to give up her life to seal Ganon once more. 16 years later, Another Zelda appears serving a reminder of his failures, but along with it offers another chance to do right by his title, for Ganon is freed once more. (Elements from BOTW but takes place centuries after)
1. Chapter 1

Zelda rode across the small village. "Seek the Hero, and he will show you the way." Her father's final words to her before the world around her collapsed. Her week long journey had led her through Kakariko village, where she was told the hero would be here, in Hateno. She had heard tales of the Hero from her parents and how it has been centuries since the last one had appeared. She was unsure as to how to feel about meeting him. Was she to feel joy that she would find the missing piece to bring down Ganon, or upset that he had not show up earlier.

She arrived at the village Elder. She removed her boots before stepping into the quaint shack that the Elder resided in. He was seated at the center of the room, elevated slightly off the ground by a cushion. The princess approached with her hands clasped in front of her. She bowed her head and kept in that position until the Elder spoke.

"Princess, please." Zelda raised her head once more, "It's almost as if I am living the past all over again, the last time anyone from the royal family paid a visit to me was your sister of the same name, the two of you are very much alike." Zelda got that a lot, she never knew her sister but she was said to have been beloved by many. "Come closer dear, tell me what it is that you require."

"Dear Elder, it is Ganon, the seal that had placed on him has been broken. I'm here to seek the Hero." Zelda quickly responded. The Elder nodded.

"The news had gotten here before you had, I had wished the the last seal would have been enough to hold him until the end of my lifetime," The Elder said. "Are your powers sufficient to take on the responsibility of defeating him once more?" Zelda nodded, the power glowed on the back of her right hand as she showed it to the Elder, who replied with a firm and reassuring look. He opened his mouth to speak once more. "The hero you seek is named Link. You will find him up the hill in a shed near the border of the town." Zelda gave a shy grin and thanked the Elder.

She slid into her boots once more as she relaxed to the sound of the rustling leaves. However, the calm had only caused a rush of sadness to enter her mind. She began towards the destination, reminding herself of the task at hand, saving Hyrule. When she had arrived. A man in a green jacket laid on the front lawn with a hood pulled over his head and a bottle of ale wrapped in his left arm. Zelda approached to see that he was asleep, or so she hoped. Ignoring the man she knocked on the door. No response. At this point Zelda grew more and more frustrated. She knocked again and sat down at front of the door after being met with more silence. The silence gave her time to think, and the more she thought, the more she felt anguish. The guards, her friends who had come along on this journey either maimed or killed, leaving her to continue the rest of her journey by herself. She was ever so close to finding the hero who was said to be always by the princess's side, yet she sat in the twilight alone. She looked out into the distance and a tear rolled down her face every minute that went by. The air became colder as the lanterns around town turned into the main source of light. Zelda stood up, wondering if the inn had any room left, before she heard the voice of the man in the hood.

"The skywatchers said that tonight would be a full moon, and the sky would be clear enough to see the stars." She was unsure whether or not he'd just woken up or was listening to her cry the entire time. "These things don't happen as often as they use to, Good thing I drank the rest of the day away to see it." He chuckled to himself. He removed his hood to show his disheveled blonde hair which blended into his stubble beard. Zelda wasn't sure whether there was anything on her face when he saw her as his eyes widened, as if he was a bit startled. His glare lingered for a couple of moments more before he broke it off and readjusted his posture.

"Sorry, wasn't expecting royalty." The man said finally breaking the silence. "Would you like to sit and watch the stars with me?" Zelda hesitated before taking a seat on the lawn next to him, but kept a distance between them, just in case. Zelda gazed up at the sky with amazement as the remaining cloud subsided to expose the stars, each one leaving a temporary reflection on her blue iris. It certainly wasn't a view she had back in the castle, what with the light pollution from castle town below. She reached into her sack and retrieved the sheikah slate, one of the family relics she rescued from the castle. It had been used by other Princesses in the past as a tool of assistance for their own adventures, but for right now she wanted to take pictures. She angled the camera at the sky and snapped every constellation she could recognize. She looked at the man who had slumped down quite a bit, eyes still remained open and aimed upwards.

"You see that one over there?" The man said. He pointed at a lump of stars clustered together in the sky, "it's called the Steed of Cyclos, but to me it's always looked like a weird mush. The person who showed me this said that it was because of the stars shifting after thousands of years, but I always thought it was because the poor horse had finally given out under the weight of the deity." Zelda let out a small laugh.

"You know making fun of a god will land you on their side of distaste." Zelda replied. The man glanced back at her.

"And you laughed, what would he say about you." The man replied. There was a short pause.

"I mean, it's only Cyclos right? How bad can he get?" Zelda quipped with a smile. The man laughed at her comment before turning his attention back at the sky. Clouds began to move in again and the view had begun to smudge. Even if it was only for a moment, she appreciated him for taking her mind off her worries, for better or for worse.

"Are you headed in the direction of the inn?" Zelda asked standing up. He shook his head and pointed at the house of the Hero. "Princess, I live here."

"You're the Hero." Zelda observed. "Link?" He returned her question with a shy smile.

"Sounds like you were expecting someone else." Link replied. He opened the door to his house and inside revealed a cosy dwelling. Around the house were weapons of multiple variants, the nicer ones on mounts against the walls. Above the fireplace hung a hylian shield, it looked as if it has seen the end of the world.

"I always thought the hero and the princess were... similarly aged." Zelda replied.

"From what I learned, don't rely on fate to make sure everything turns out nice and neat." Link replied. He put on a flamebreaker glove on one hand and fetched a pot that sat in the fire. He lifted the lid and it filled the room with a hearty aroma, The princess had not had a warm meal in a while, living the past couple of days on apples and various berries. "You're very lucky I always make more than I can eat." Zelda sat at the table as Link came with their stew. Zelda dug in as Link observed her devour the bowl in front of her.

"There's more in the pot, you can help yourself." Zelda looked around at the weapons around her, there was one important piece that was missing: The Master Sword.

Zelda wiped her mouth after she had finished eating. Link grabbed both their bowls and tossed them into the tub of water to be washed… whenever he felt like it would eventually be necessary.

"Zelda," Zelda gave him her attention, she leaned forward in her chair towards Link who turned away from her to look at the fire. "You're not here bowl of stew aren't you."

"I," Zelda began, "You're the final piece, Link, The Elder's have given me all the information I need. I have gained the sealing magic from my mother, my father has left me with one final command, 'Seek the Hero.'"

"No." Link replied. Zelda was taken aback, her vision began to shake. She quietly made out two words.

"Excuse me?" Link pulled up a chair next to her and sat down.

"I'm sorry you've travelled this far for this" Link gestured at himself, "but I can't come with you."

"What, what do you mean?" Zelda asked.

"Zelda, I'm not the hero in the stories you hear about, I'm not who you think I am." Link replied. "I'm even reluctant to identify myself with that title and-."

"I'm not accepting that." The princess injected. Her voice slowly increased in worry and anger as she continued. "Since the return of Ganon, I had lost everything I loved, I've left everything I knew behind so that maybe, this kingdom inherited by me would have a future. I don't care about who you think are, Hero- I- I." She couldn't make another word. Link merely shook his head. She wept into her palms, Link placed a hand on her shoulder, an empty reassurance for she knew that she must find a way to move forward with uncertainty, and that uncertainty truly terrified her.

Zelda had cried herself to sleep on his bed, Link stood outside with both his hands in his jacket.

"She looks a lot like her sister doesn't she?" It was the village Elder. "The eyes being the only difference to remind you that you're not hallucinating past memories."

"I didn't know you were allowed to leave your cushion." With both his hands still in the other sleeve, the elder approached Link.

"I know with your attitude right now and how the royal family raises their Zeldas you'd might run into… well disagreement." Link nodded, "Still lingering on that failure all those many years ago."

"Wasn't just any failure," Link reminded the Elder, but he knew that it was more to remind himself. "My sole purpose was to fight the evil until it is weak enough to be sealed by the princess, but I wasn't a asset, I became a detriment, what kind of hero am I, if I am one at all?"

"It takes a special kind of stupid for someone to be willing to dedicate their life to another just because they wear a glorified gold band around their head." The Elder pointed his fingers up at the sky. "Now I've always known that the gods were stupid, give the three most powerful objects in the universe to a deranged pig-obsessed psychopath, a regal figure that hardly leaves the castle her ancestors made some poor fellow build, and a boy that knows how to swing a metal stick real good. Yah ever get a good look at a chuchu, and thought, who was the genius that thought this thing would get anywhere." Link squinted his eyes at the elder's comments. "Look, what I'm trying to say is that the hero is the byproduct of stupid gods. And from all the stupid things you do and say for as long as I've known you… You're a byproduct of stupid alright." Link smiled at the elder.

"I know what I just said probably is not going to change how you think about yourself, but know that the girl in there" He points towards Link's house. "Is a second chance, to do right by your first, I firmly believe that it is what **your** Zelda would have wanted."


	2. Chapter 2

Link woke up on his lawn with the sun heating up his fair complexion. The door to his house was opened wide. He stood up and walked back in. On the table was a small note, he picked it up and gave it a glance.

 _Took some of your strew, hope you don't mind, -Princess_

 _At least she was polite about it_ Link thought to himself. _But what if she dies?_ Link had always hoped that his Zelda's seal would see him until his death, so that the hero could be reborn, to find his own princess and take down Ganon together. He wasn't about to kill himself anytime soon, but he couldn't say the same about the current princess' well being. He looked at his hylian shield that hadn't been moved for a decade. Link felt a certain unease as if the shield was speaking to him, it was saying:

 _I have a sole purpose to protect, yet you haven't used my guard for years, now you let others die while we sit in the same room and stare at one another with disappointment._ Link looked into his empty pot and brought it over to the tub where the dishes from last night were. He grabbed the sponge and scrubbed down the inside of the pot and lifted the sponge back out to rise it off. _A second chance to do right by your first._ What would _his_ Zelda even say if she saw him like this. He looked back at his shield, it taunted him.

 _Come on Hero, an adventure waits at your footsteps and that mark of courage on the back of your hand craves it._

Zelda petted Storm as they rode past the sign that dictated the border of Hateno Village. She would look at her slate every so often as to make sure she knew where she was headed.

"You know what Storm, the royal horse would never forget her duty would she?" The horse neighed, "That's good to hear." The ambient sound was as if it was being repeated over and over again, and Zelda wasn't really ready to confront her thoughts just yet.

"Sometimes I wish you would be able to talk Storm, you'd make it a lot less lonely. Then again, what would you even say? I want food princess." She signed to herself. "I'm going to go insane aren't I."

Zelda rode for a couple more hours before the food she had bought had began to diminish slowly. She stopped at a forest and found a small collection of wild fruits and berries deemed safe for consumption by the compendium. She fetched an apple of the lowest branch and offered it to Storm, who gobbled it up. The princess smiled and ruffled the mane that fell below the steed's ears. She picked another one, this time with a bit of effort forcing her to get on her toes, and placed it inside of her bag. It wasn't long before a rustle in the bushes grabbed the attention of both the Princess and her horse. Zelda slipped her way behind Storm to put the horse between herself and the source of the noise. Zelda climbed onto the horse feeling more secure when she mounted. The sound had calmed down for a moment although the silence created an even stressful situation for the Princess. In an instant a Lizalfo sprang from the trees startling the steed. Storm launched the princess off and onto the ground to chase down the monster. Without the horse, two more Lizalfos appeared, each one turning their face slightly away from Zelda so that their reptilian eye could get a good look at her. Zelda retrieved a large branch from the ground trying to taunt the Lizards as they moved into a position what would see the princess in the center of their attack. The one behind her moved in first, but the princess was able to dodge, causing the Lizalfo to stumble. The other one approached preparing to strike but was fended off by a good jab of the stick. The jab broke the stick and Zelda stood there defenseless. She grabbed onto the strap of the bag seeing if she could use it as a sling. The two Lizalfo regrouped preparing to strike again. Zelda again struck one down with her makeshift weapon, but couldn't reach the other as she was kicked onto the ground. The reptile brought the weapon above his head ready to put an end to the princess when the cry of a horse caught his attention. The horse rode by and a sound of a sheathing sword later, the Lizalfo had faded into it's primordial darkness and diffused into the air leaving some of its monster parts behind. Zelda rubbed her eyes as some dust had been kicked into it. When she opened her eyes the again the face of the hylian shield stared at her before it was lifted away to block a blow.

Link brought his sword around the shield to slash at the Lizalfo. The Lizard leapt back to spit water. Link blocked it once more as he charged at the monster. A whip from the tail knocked the Hero on his back. He quickly forced himself up again to parry swing before sending a jab right at the lizard's core. The monster returned with a fully charged swing. Link instinctually transitioned into a back flip to dodge, but fail to stick the landing and tumbled onto the ground dropping his sword. Link held up his shield once more and swung the base at the monster who moved out of the way. Leaving himself exposed, the Lizard got a slice into the hero cutting the skin at his chest. Link raised his shield anticipating another strike but only heard the sound of a sword hitting the monster and the screech of its demise. Link lowered his shield to see Zelda holding his sword with both her hands. She returned the sword to Link and wiped away the mud on her cheeks with her sleeve.

"Nice of you to finally show up." Zelda quietly said, breaking the lack of dialogue between the two.

"You're welc-" His sentence broken up by the thump of the young princess burying her face into his jacket.

"I can try and act tough and mad at you." Her voice muffled by the jacket. "Frankly you deserve it.. But I'm just relieved that someone's here." Link patted the back of her head and eventually the princess stepped back, slightly red eyed.

"You got cut pretty bad there," Zelda signalled to his chest.

"I have a bottle of rum to wash it. I'm sure the alcohol will do its job to wash away any potential infections." Link led Zelda back to the path she was on before she went to gather some food. Both Epona and Link's were there.

"Storm, you stupid horse, how could you have left me there by myself. I am confiscating your snacks until you get your act together." The horse neighed in a minor tone. Link walked around to give Storm a carrot stick. "Hey!" The princess protested.

"It's fine, if it weren't for her, we wouldn't have found you." Link gave the royal horse a pet before retreating for his. "We should be able to reach the next stable by nightfall and get this wound properly patched.

* * *

The innkeeper had their horses boarded and arranged for the two to have beds next to one another. Zelda returned from quick wash as Link pressed on his newly patched skin. Zelda sat on her bed and looked at him.

"Why did you come back for me?" Zelda asked, Link looked as if he didn't really know how to answer.

"A good friend told me this was an opportunity to right the wrongs I've never been able to correct from my past. I have one too many that could be wiped by tagging along, but it's a start." Zelda nodded understandingly. She couldn't help but continue to ask.

"What were those wrongs, and how bad were they till the point where you'd deny to help me?" Link shot back a slightly agitated stare. Zelda leaned off her anticipation as the silence continued.

"I mean, can you even answer me how old you are?" Zelda asked.

"I lost count, I do remember being about 18 when your birth was announced throughout all of Hyrule." Link finally replied. It didn't tell Zelda much about him besides the fact that the man was in his mid thirties. Something quickly clicked in her head a couple of seconds into another series of silence.

"Had you known you were the Hero back when my sister was alive?" Link merely bit his top lip and performed a single nod. "She was said to have died fighting Ganon alone, was that your failure, leaving her to fight alone?"

"Fight alone." Link let a out a snarky chuckle. "Is that what the king told you?" He didn't need an answer to know.

"Was that not what happened?" Zelda asked, these attempts to know the hero better only brought about more questions.

"I think I'll keep that between my Zelda and I for now." The only people she knew that mentioned her sister by name were her parents, others merely refer to her as the "Fallen Princess". Her tongue pressed against the back of her teeth, ready to ask another question. But she was able to spot a certain sadness in the hero's eyes and stopped herself. She let the silence linger until she felt like it was appropriate to talk.

"I saw your back flip back during the fight, nice landing." Zelda remarked.

"Shut up… it has been a while." Link replied

"Aren't you a village guard?"

"Does my introduction of being passed out on the lawn indicate that I was doing much guarding?" Truth is, the only thing really he guarded was the town's Hylia statue from bird crap. Zelda smiled.

"Well, you can't be making mistakes like that and expect me to pick you up afterwards." Link rolled his eyes with a small smirk on his face. Link returned his eye contact back to Zelda whose face lit up and scooted over towards the side of her bed closest to him.

"Since you're old and about as well oiled as a rusty hinge," Zelda began.

"Hey!" Link quickly interrupted.

"Why don't you teach me how to fight, it would take off some of that burden of protecting me." Link pondered the idea.

"This stuff took me years to learn, we don't have the time " Link responded.

"I'll make time, how do you feel about waking up an hour or two early?" Link hated the mornings, if he could skip the process of waking up, he would.

"I'll try, but don't expect me to be reliable in the morning." Link, fluffed his pillow and lifted up his sheets.

"Where do we go tomorrow?" Zelda asked as Link was preparing to fall asleep.

"We're going to make sure we get the best hand going into this fight with Ganon." Link said. "I'll let you know tomorrow Zelda, I… I really want to sleep… Goodnight Zelda."

"Goodnight Link." Link shut his eyes and brought up his blanket and tucked his long ears back so that he didn't sleep on it wrong. Within minutes he fell into the abyss of his nightly coma

* * *

" _I knew I'd find you here." A young Link announced. His Zelda pulled out a book from the shelf of the Royal Family Private Library._

" _Turns out there's a lot of history that I've overlooked here, then again I've never been fond of non-fiction." Zelda turned around to face Link. Her green eyes met his and the corner of her mouth pulled into a smile. "Come here." Link moved in to give Zelda a hug. She pushed her face into his collar bone. Link dug his nose into the crook of her neck. The two held this position for a minute before breaking off._

" _I was beginning to worry considering how long that last campaign was." Zelda continued, leaving one hand on Link's shoulder. Link shrugged._

" _What's to worry, It's not like I'm the reincarnated soul of the Hero." He quipped._

" _Never read in these books how cocky each hero was." The princess remarked with a smirk on her face. "Are you sure it's you, maybe the sword made a mistake." The boy chuckled before responding._

" _I've always made it back to you for the past three years, I wasn't going to stop this time." Zelda let out a quick and quiet "aww" before returning to the book she had picked out._

" _I've been looking for books that talked more about past heroes and princesses. Apparently this one documents the last time a Hero ended up with the Princess." Link didn't know much about the past incarnations of his soul nor the past versions of Zelda, but he did try and learn whenever his Zelda would take him to the library to hangout._

" _Wouldn't that be the Hero of the Forbidden Tribes and his Princess?" Link really liked this Hero's story. The tribes still existed in the south west, and they've turned their hero into a massive idol, apparently immortalizing him with statues, and crazy stories of his adventures that are still being passed down through the generations._

" _No, that Hero did attempt to court my ancestor, but was ultimately turned down… poor boy." Zelda sarcastically frowned at Link before returning to her gleeful state._

" _The last one was the Hero of the Wild and his Zelda. It says here that they ended up together after they put an end to the age of Calamity. They had… a daughter who would marry a Prince from Holodrum… and it gets pretty boring from there." Zelda put the book back onto the shelf. "Well now I know I'm at least related to one of the Heroes." Zelda has always had a rather jocular mood, something Link found to be a much needed break from the looming threat of the Dark Lord's return._

" _Have you found anything that would potentially assist with the fight against Ganon?" Zelda asked switching the tone of their conversation._

" _We found the final dungeon containing the final Heavenly Gift, still impenetrable like the others, but we're staying optimistic." Link replied in a more professional tone, sounding much like her other subordinates. Zelda never really liked it when he spoke to her in such a manner, she wanted him to know that he was never just another subject. The princess looked down at her Hero's hands and took both of them with hers. She stared longingly into his eyes before moving in until their faces were almost touching. Link tilted his head as to not bump their noses, and the princess knew that the signal was made to go in for the kiss. It didn't last more than a couple of seconds, but it was enough for both Zelda and Link to remind themselves where they were in each other's hearts._

* * *

Link didn't often dream of his past, he had even surprised himself that he'd even remember that day so vividly. He sat up on his bed to see that the current Princess had already gotten up for she was absent from her made bed.

Link got prepared as he slipped into his clothes. He walked outside of the tent to retrieve some water to brush his teeth and wash his face but found the princess facing a tree with the hylian shield on one arm and his broadsword in the other. She swung her sword to hit the tree, but got the sword stuck in the trunk. Unable to pull it back out with one arm. She propped up her foot against the tree to gain some leverage. A tug or two after, she had flung herself onto the floor sending the sword sliding across the ground. Embarrassed, the princess covered her face as she laid on the floor. Link retrieved the sword and stood over Zelda casting his shadow over her.

"What were you doing to my lovely sword." Zelda peaked through her fingers to see Link essentially laughing at her and retreated back to her self-made visual isolation. "Come on, get up."

"Ugh, maybe I don't wanna learn how to fight," Link shook his head.

"You made me wake up this early, I'm holding you to this arrangement." Link handed her the sword. Zelda adjusted her grip and waited for further instruction.

"Alright princess, show me your stance." Zelda stepped outwards to create more distance between her feet. She lifted the shield in front of her and readied her sword by her side.

"That's pretty good," Link began, a smirk quickly developed on his face. "But… " He abruptly shoved the shield causing Zelda to lose balance dropping the sword once again. "You should keep your stance staggered so that doesn't happen again."

"You could've just TOLD me!" Zelda retaliated. Link shrugged.

"Where's the fun in that?" Link handed the sword to the Princess again. "Alright, get into your stance." This time Zelda staggered her footing, and received an approving nod from Link. Link shoved her from the front, this time she maintained her balance barely budging. Link rubbed his chin before grabbing a nearby rake, removing and taking the wooden handle from it. He positioned himself in front of Zelda and jabbed the shield with the stick. Zelda jolted from the impact. Link brought the stick back to neutral position before striking from the right side, Zelda reacted promptly and adjusted her shield to respond.

"Good." Link brough the stick back and repeatedly swung at the princess at different areas to see how she would react. Her performance wasn't bad at all only stopping to correct her whenever he would catch a mistake, which wasn't hard as she made it pretty vocal whenever she got hit, and after an hour of drilling both of them were quite fatigued. The innkeeper fetched them some warm food and they prepared to continue on their journey.

"Where are we off to next?" Zelda asked. Link removed the canteen he had on his mouth to respond.

"Every single time Ganon has returned there are always methods that make his defeat, easier. For the Hero of the Wild it was the Divine beasts, for the Hero of Time it was the 7 Sages. Those aren't around anymore, but your sister Zelda ordered me and a team of expeditioner to find the catalyst of our time which will assist in the fight." Zelda was intrigued, no one has ever really told her these things. "There's 6 artifacts and we called them the Heavenly Gifts. They are hidden deep within a couple of dungeons throughout Hyrule. Your sister and I didn't have the time to retrieve these gifts but, I think we'd be able to do it this time." Zelda stood up,

"Well, let's hurry."


End file.
